ALBANY, NEW YORK--On January 8, the New York State Board of
Regents, which oversees public education, banned the use of aversive treatments
of students in New York schools and schools outside the state that accept New
York students.

The ban does not go into effective, however, until nearly 30 months from
now.

The Board started an emergency ban last June in response to news reports
that dozens of New York students who had been sent to the Judge Rotenberg
Education Center in Canton, Massachusetts were being subjected to harsh
punishments such as electric skin shocks, sleep deprivation, food deprivation,
and noxious sprays for such behaviors as "nagging", "failure to maintain a neat
appearance", "interrupting others", and "slouching in chair".

New York contracts with the Rotenberg Center to house and educate about
150 youths, most of which have intellectual and physical disabilities or mental
illnesses.

According to the Journal News, the regents voted to allow aversive
treatment to continue until June 30, 2009. Those who, as of that date, are
already subjected to such treatment to modify their behavior could be
'grandfathered in' to continue experiencing the unpleasant treatment past that
date. Only positive methods could be used for new students or those who were
receiving aversive treatment before July 1, 2009.

Last fall, a federal judge ordered JRC to continue using skin shocks as
punishment for 46 New York students whose parents sued to overturn the state's
emergency ban. The parents claimed that the electric jolts, which are described
as being similar to bee stings, are the only techniques that have helped their
children keep from hurting themselves or others.

Disability rights advocates and parents such as Evelyn Nicholson
consider the skin shocks 'barbaric'. Nicholson sued her local school district
for sending her son, who has learning disabilities, to JRC. She alleged that
the institution's aversive therapy caused Antwone emotional trauma and fear,
amounting to corporal punishment, which is banned in New York and at least 26
other states.